How it Worked Out
by Ghasten
Summary: Marth had not said a single word but he glanced at Samus, "Samus, you know this is not your fault." "Yes it is! It always is, I should've seen the signs! Something like this always happens to me. I befriend someone; I let them in and then bam! They die." This next tournament should've been fresh, renewing at the very least. Except...it wasn't. It was so much more.
1. Back to Where it All Began

**Title: To Make a Statement**

**Chapter: 1*Back to Where It All Began**

**a/n: I suppose you could say this is a redo of one of my **_**oldold**_** Super Smash Brother's stories. Here goes my sanity for the next few days(LOLno)…months…years?:D Alright, just kidding about that last part. Takes place in Brawl universe however Toon Link and Wario will not appear in this story. Roy and Young Link will though.**

_**Disclaimer! I do not own any of the characters portrayed in this story nor the settings. Simply the idea to create another plot surrounding it.**_

* * *

Samus was exhausted by the time she re-entered her ship. She'd been feeling that way ever since the space-pirates had come to take their revenge.

"What I wouldn't do to just get one break." It was mostly spoke in a whisper since there wasn't anyone else accompanying her on her new 'mission'. Once Melee had finished she'd gone back to the loner life. Traveling alone had its pros like not having to deal with mess and disorder, but it also meant no one to speak with or share happiness and trouble. After powering down her Power Suit she slipped out of her Varia Suit and into some sweats. Plopping down onto a makeshift bed she soon found herself succumbing to a restless sleep.

_**3 hours later –**_

Samus awoke abruptly; once again she wouldn't be able to sleep. Slowly but surely she sat up from the mess of blankets she called bed. There was something that felt slightly off but she was unable to put a finger on it. Standing on her feet she flipped a switch which brought some light on the subject, _literally._ Now able to see she slowly looked over her controls, shelves, and belongings to see if they had been fooled with.

_So far, nothing_.

Just as she was about to stop being so paranoid she noticed the glistening of something on the seat she would sit in when she drove her ship. Carefully she picked up the medium-sized envelope which was sealed by a gold stamp looking similar to the letter _**S**_.

A small thought popped into the back of her head at that moment. _There's no way…another tournament?_

Sliding a finger under the tip of the envelope she carefully removed the deal and pulled out its contest, two maps and a letter. She placed the maps aside for the moment and sat down as she began to read the neatly handwritten letter.

_**Dear Samus,**_

_**Due to your excellent participation in our two previous tournaments it is only fitting that we invite you back for a third go. Even though I wished for this tournament to have taken place sooner it just would not have been right. So hopefully in these long seven years you will not have forgotten the others and I. Hopefully you will accept our request to join Brawl and head to Smasher Station using the maps provided.**_

_** With regards,**_

_** Master Hand.**_

Samus now realized that she'd shoved all those memories of Melee and the time before it to the back of her mind to collect dust. This was the opportunity she needed to get away from her troubles and it'd be ridiculous if she didn't take it.

* * *

"Yes I know we can't dilly-dally Mario, but I just have to pick Zelda some of these Pear Blossoms. I promised to." Peach spoke quickly before picking up a couple more of the white plant. Once she was completed she half-dashed to catch up with Mario who was waiting ahead with Yoshi.

Mario was looking at the map he was given to find this year's Smasher Station. If they didn't show up there to catch the train they wouldn't be able to get to Nintendo City or more importantly, Smash Mansion. That would mean a missed opportunity to participate in the tournament. Link had won last year and he was determined to redeem himself this time.

"Oh put down that map already, we've gone down this route before." Peach didn't understand why he was concentrating so much on the map's directions. She had taken the route last time, and Mario had the time before that.

"Sorry Peach, it's-a just they had to change the path this time. I suppose they didn't inform everyone so there wouldn't be panic…there was an intruder that tried to sneak in-a during Brawl's preparation." Mario's face turned serious as Peach gaped in astonishment.

"What? That's crazy, who would be stupid enough to try and attempt to sabotage planning for Smash Mansion?" She wanted to know more, what if this person had succeeded in disrupting Brawl's planning? That would've meant even more of a delay in seeing her friends. _The __**nerve**__!_

"They didn't say anything else-a about it except that he had one of the Smasher's guide-a maps on him when he was caught. I bet it was Ness's, remember how he lost-a it so randomly. We didn't think anything of it at the time-a though." Mario looked to Yoshi as he finished, the green dinosaur looked rather anxious.

"Seems like Yoshi wants to get a move on; I suppose we should. I'll use my magic to keep up as I float, ready Mario?" She smiled and gave her favorite dinosaur a good head scratch before she began lifting from the ground.

"As-a ever Peach. Let's-a go!" Mario sat himself in Yoshi's saddle and the three began making quick progress toward Smash Station. Mario kept the map in the corner of his vision to make sure they wouldn't steer off track.

Peach continued to flow through the air, during her time preparing for the Melee Tournament so many years ago allowed her to strengthen her ability to soar above others, "Did they happen to say how many new smashers we would receive this time?" She figured there'd be even more competition this year, it couldn't hurt to ask who they might be.

"They didn't give me any specific names but we're receiving more than last year I believe. I-a even heard a rumor that a Sega character is being introduced." Mario didn't really hate those that were from Sega, he even liked some friendly competition. However, this was Nintendo City, nothing Sega about it.

"Oh really? Well I guess we'll just have to prove ourselves once again, guess they just can't take a hint." She winked and they met each other with a comfortable silence and began to look around for their key landmark.

Neither was sure what would happen if in fact someone from Sega was joining the tournament this year but if it was true they would all have to take it as it came.

* * *

The sun's bright rays told the time in itself, _almost noon_, and almost spoke of the journey ahead. A hand pulled back a tree branch and a young adult dressed in green garments stepped through the gap. The forest they were in seemed to halt and only a lush field of grass and shrubbery laid in front of them. He continued to hold the branch back as two more traveling companions passed by; a younger boy that seemed to mimic style as well as look and an elegant girl wearing various jewels and an off-white dress that appeared to be knee length.

"How much longer till we get to the train?" The voice came from the youngest of the three who was nicknamed Young Link.

"Almost there Young Link, if I'm correct we only have to go past this empty field and then we'll find the Smasher Station." Zelda smiled looking down towards him, laying a hand atop his shoulder.

"Yep, and see that patch of horse grass up there?" The adult Link pointed up ahead and his younger version started to get excited.

"Finally we get to take Epona, she'll be so happy!" He started to race ahead towards the horseshoe-shaped grass. As Zelda and Link followed behind at a slower pace they shared a laugh. A slight breeze flew through the area giving it an even nicer feel than before. Though the silence was short it appeared that Zelda would be the first to break it.

"Are you excited about this year, Link, since you're the defending champion, a lot of things can happen in seven years." She spoke softly; the natural tone of her voice was sweet.

"I think each time that we do this I'll feel like that, but I suppose I feel a bit more excited, anxious too. What about you, princess?" He gave her a goofy smile before looking ahead noticing that Young Link was looking towards him with the grass piece already in his hand. Link gave a noticeable nod and saw the different version of him start to play the tune.

"I'm certainly excited, to participate and to see all of our friends. It's been so long." She heard _Epona's Song_ and watched the horse come into view. It always amazed her that the equine could appear at any time. They reached Young Link who was currently attending to his horse.

"She's excited." Young Link stated happily, "Are you going to summon your Epona as well Link?"

"Of course, how else would Zelda and I get there?" He bent down slightly and picked off one of the remaining horse grass. Soon enough he could see Epona in the fair distance swiftly making her way across the field toward them. Her whinny was easily distinguished. The large horse stopped short of her master and his accompanying friends.

"There's a good girl," He ran his gloved hand over the side of her head before turning to Zelda, "Are you ready Zelda?" Once the princess nodded he helped her onto his steed carefully and then with ease he pulled himself up as well. Almost simultaneously both he and Young Link yelled out a similar command that caused their horses to start moving.

"_This is going to be awesome!"_

* * *

"Are you sure you're reading the map right?" Roy looked at one of his taller navy-blue haired friend who had stated the question.

Perturbed at the implication he made the redhead shoved the map at him, "Of course I'm reading it right! Here you take it, guide us instead, not like this is your first time going to Smash Station, Ike." Marth rolled his eyes at the two but kept quiet before he noticed Roy grumbling.

"Why does everyone get the assumption that I can perform ordinary tasks, it's just plain ridiculous right?" Roy elbowed Marth jokingly before seeing his amused expression, "Aw come on man, not you too."

Stifling a laugh as a he shook his head, his blue bangs swayed to and fro, "It's just that you did have the map upside down for the first ten minutes. You asked for it."

Roy waved his hand casually, "Yeah, whatever," he looked towards Ike who still seemed to be looking at the map, "So Ike, my man, you found anything out?"

"Yeah, we're supposed to be heading towards the field, not the bridge." Ike sighed and murmured an almost incomprehensible word _idiot…_

"So…I didn't do that bad? The field is the last place we have to travel through before we hit get to the train." Roy's smile was back as he knew he was 100% right this time.

"For once, you are correct and I think I'm correct when I say that probably won't happen again." Ike retorted mildly and knew he had succeeded when he heard Roy tell him to 'Just shut up.'

"You know we might run into Link and Zelda if we actually hurry up. Nothing like company that has actual intelligence." Marth saw that Roy mostly reacted to the comment but he didn't receive any verbal response back.

* * *

"So…are we there yet?" Roy put on his best face in fact the only face he seemed to have, one of a child.

"You're such a child." Ike called out toward him, a quarter of a loaf of bread in his hand which he was currently eating.

Marth, who now had the map in his grasp, looked closely at one of the landmarks which it seemed they were passing, "Well since that was…_Aurora's Tear_, I think we're about three-fourths the way there. Not too much longer…as long as you don't request any more breaks." They all stopped to look at the rock formation; it was overly big or tiny, just the right size to get your attention and peak your curiosity.

"Hey, I can't travel on an empty stomach now can I?" While Roy made his reasoning clear he forgot to mention the _three _times they stopped just for food.

They continued walking for a solid 10 minutes before they eyed something in the distance; in fact two somethings that seemed to be moving peculiarly fast towards their direction.

"What the heck are those things?" All three were probably thinking it but only Roy decided to voice it. At this point they had stopped walking but were slightly on guard till Marth's excellent eyesight was able to distinguish what was coming towards them.

"Oh, it's Link, Zelda, and Young Link. They seem to be riding horses this time." Looking at Ike and Roy as he spoke he could see their expressions change as if a light bulb had gone off. Zelda could be seen waving and within a matter of moments the oncoming party was stopping shortly before them. All three got down from their mounts and began walking over, both horses could be seen dashing back in the direction they had come from and were most likely going back to their homes.

"Whoa, nice timing guys didn't think we'd meet up with anyone else till we got to the station." Link smiled towards his two swordsman friends. He hadn't been to contact them at all during Smash's dispersal but he hadn't quite forgotten them. After the greeting he noticed a new face, "I see we have not met before, the name is Link, that's Princess Zelda, and this is Young Link."

Ike nodded and showed courtesy in return, "My name is Ike, good to meet you all." With information being finished shared, the now slightly larger group began to move towards a building that was hard to see at first eye-sight.

* * *

Smasher Station was a fairly large building surrounded by a taller outer wall with a small gap that allowed smashers to enter and exit.

R. were assisting smashers that had already arrived with their questions, going over the rosters to see who had arrived and hadn't, and making the final preparations for the train for when it began its important journey.

Pikachu followed behind Trainer Red who was walking towards one of the information desks. Stopping when he got to the desk the robot behind it seemed to come to life and its mechanical voice was heard.

"Name please," Red raised an eye-brow before stating alias _'Pokémon Trainer Red'_ and received a response of, "Name accepted, do you have any further questions?"

"Uh…yeah, will Pokémon food be provided during the trip and what time do we leave for the Smash Mansion?" He seemed a little unsure that normally a robot would be able to help him but considering this was Master Hand's setup anything was possible.

"The train used for passage provides many services for many walks of life, including provisions for the Pokémon species. Departure time is set in thirty minutes; however it may be delayed if all participants are not present. It has been calculated that this will most likely not happen due to the two previous tournaments' excellent on-time attendance record. Will that be all?" The R.O.B's eyes flashed subtly but gave off an eerie feeling for the Pokémon trainer.

"Yeah…" He noticed just then the small mouse-like creature that had been following him was walking towards a large group of people, most likely the Smashers.

"Please proceed to your left towards the waiting area with your fellow Smashers. Thank you for participating." The R.O.B's activity seemed to halt after its final spoken word making Red think that it had perhaps shut itself off till the next person came to it for questions.

Currently Falco was sitting with a mass group of twenty-nine smashers, well make that thirty considering one of the newcomers, Trainer Red, was joining them now. He was anxious to get on the road towards Smash and this chair was getting a little uncomfortable.

"Hey, finally another new face, say did that robot tell ya' when we were leaving?" It was Captain Falcon; he'd been one of the first to arrive.

"Half an hour. Maybe more if the others don't show in time." Red shrugged and chose to take a seat next to an ape, Donkey Kong was his name?

"Jeez, you two should be glad we took so long or else we would've had to wait even longer." Roy spoke with a bored tone as he slouched down, leaning his face on his left hand.

_**Ten Minutes Later…**_

"GAHHH." The noise was sudden and slightly high-pitched. Before the half-dazed and relaxed Smashers knew it, chaos was about to ensue. Running in as fast as possible with stubby legs was Olimar and his six pikmin who followed behind just barely.

"YAA." Kirby was following behind trying to inhale the carrot-looking creatures even though they were not food.

"Here we go…Kirby stop that!" Zelda waved her hand and sent a spark towards Kirby which halted his fixation on the pikmin and their savior and caused him to look at the Princess peculiarly.

"You can't eat them Kirby so stop trying to okay?" She shook her head with a light smile; Kirby's motto in life was to eat _everything _no matter what it was. The pink blob sulked before making his way towards her and the surrounding group.

"Which Smashers are still missing?" Link spoke the question openly as he stretched out his arms so they would not cramp from his habit of leaning on them.

"I think Mario, Peach, Yoshi and Samus." Luigi exhaled a breath he had been holding in, waiting for something was fine but there was a point when someone would have enough of it.

_**Fifteen Minutes Later…**_

"Hey guys!" Peach's frilly voice couldn't be missed as she walked over or more so bounced. The pink ruffles in her dress following the beat.

"I'm assuming Mario and Yoshi are with you Peach?" Luigi raised a brow in curiosity even though he knew the answer he wanted to make sure.

"Of course silly, they're checking in. So are we all here and ready to go?" She smiled as she looked over the surrounding group; they definitely needed to get on the road.

"Actually we're only missing one person and that would be Samus. We've got about five minutes before we're supposed to depart." Fox was the first to answer the question and he was a little confused. Samus was usually on time when it came to these things.

"We're not actually going to leave without her, are we?" Marth almost blurted out the question instantly, but held his curiosity in for a moment. He didn't want to sound anxious about Samus like that, people would get the wrong impression. _God Damnit, I over think every damn thing._

"No…I don't think we'd leave right off the bat without her. She's got five minutes she can make it on time. Besides this is Samus we're talking about, nothing happened…she's just taking her_ sweet old time_ getting over here unfortunately." Peach countered the question in a peaceful manner before taking a seat on one of the many provided benches.

_**Five Minutes Later…**_

"**Would all Smashers please report to the train gate; we will begin loading within a few moments." **Master Hand's voice was easily distinguished on the announcement and all present Smashers began moving towards the previously mention area.

"So what about Samus? Does this mean she doesn't get to come?" Ike was curious as to what would go on since he presumed the other recurring Smashers seemed to have not been in this predicament before.

"_I honestly don't know."_

Halfway through the loading process and second attendance roster people heard a feminine voice, "Wait, wait I'm here!"

"Is that Samus?" Marth spoke hopefully as he and a few of the Smashers near him turned around to see a humanoid robot looking creature running towards them. _Yep, definitely Sam._

Upon seeing that they hadn't forgotten about her and left yet she slowed down and stop at the desk to give her name. After being given instructions to head to train gate she went in its direction before waving to Zelda and Peach who were smiling.

She switched off her power suit once she caught up with her group; they were used to the suit disappearing before their eyes and becoming replaced by her varia suit.

"About time Sammie, you were trying to avoid us or what?" Peach laughed before hugging Samus, though she was not one for close contact she allowed it due to the seven year gap in seeing her, the same followed for Zelda.

"No," She grumbled folding her arms together, "My damn ship didn't want to cooperate. That's why I was so late, I freaked out a little once I remember that we had departure times." She saw Roy giving her a look that stated _Stop ignoring us!_

"Give it a rest Roy, I'll talk to you when I'm ready." They all laughed at the comment but Samus gave him a hug as well. _They are not getting any more damn hugs in their entire life after this!_

"So how's it been Link? Kicked Ganondork's ass more since Melee ended?" She asked loud enough just for Ganondorf to hear it and murmur an annoyed comment.

"Of course I have. Why else do you think he's been invited to Brawl? Master Hand felt so sorry about him getting his ass kicked all these years he decided to let him come and try to get even with me during a match. Too bad that hasn't happened since_ never!" _They all shared a laugh at that and cracked up even more when they noticed Ganondorf had heard it.

"Listen foolish boy, if you don't shut your trap I'm going to do it for you." The group of seven almost couldn't handle the hilarity of the situation especially Zelda and Link.

"You're going do it for me? Just like the other zero-hundred times right?" Roy and Link high-fived at the comeback, the Hylian hero was on a roll today. Ganondorf grumbled more before entering the train and heading towards the left, where the villains sat.

They were the next and last ones in line so they held off their conversation. Another R.O.B had been stationed to take their name and give them their booth location in turn.

"Name please."

"Samus Aran." She took the sheet of paper it held out towards her.

"Your booth is 6-C. Have a nice trip."

She went inside hoping to find the correct booth which was easy considering it was the second one she came across of.

Sliding open the door she heard footsteps behind her and when she turned back she recognized Marth.

"Hey, you got 6-C too?"

"Mhm. Luckily the booths are only accustomed to fitting two people so we won't have to deal with Roy." They snickered at the comment even though it was a harmless insult.

"_HEY, I HEARD THAT."_

"Yeah whatever Roy!" They both scooted through the doorway and took a seat that was near a window. Their booth, like all others, contained a bathroom and a bed area that housed two Smashers. The ride to Smash Mansion was a long one.

"Now the only thing left to deal with is the twenty-four hours from here till Smash." Marth commented lightly as he could feel the vibrations of the train beginning to move.

"Yep."

* * *

**O: Chapter One, complete. Chapter Two? Not so complete but on its way:) Hope you've enjoyed so leave a review if you like! And yes for the record I am doing parings. :L Later on that is.**


	2. First Sight

**Title: To Make a Statement**

**Chapter: 2*First Sight for Anything**

**a/n: I don't want to go the cliché route like some stories do with their relations to other smashers so let me know if I veer in that direction too mcuh, please? In this installment we get to see a bit more of the way some smashers react to others, **_**particularly Samus because we all love her so much **_**:3**

* * *

During the first hour Smashers were not allowed out of their booths or allowed to eat more than the minor snack provided to them. Many took to sleeping considering they were exhausted from their journey, just did not feel like sitting around, or had nothing else to do. It was the second-half of the trip that was livelier.

Zelda and Peach were assigned to share a booth which left Ike, Roy, and Link to be stuck in the only booth that accommodated three Smashers. It was designed this way in the beginning due to some misdirection but worked out none the less. Marth and Samus decided to take the easy way out and catch a few Zs which was understandable since they each had a long journey.

However when they went to see the _beds_ they noticed there was only one, "Is this meant to be a joke or something?" Samus voiced her opinion first and it didn't seem to be good, these stupid situations always seemed to happen to her.

"Apparently so." He picked up a note that was on the edge of the bed. His vision was a bit hazy due to exhaustion but he was able to read it aloud none the less.

_We ran out of singles before we could get more. Have fun sharing!_

_-Smash Preparation Crew!_

"Those damn idiots. Wait, isn't Link one of the people on that committee?" She was a bit more perturbed at this point because he would have known who was assigned to each booth and the way they were designed. _That fucking Hylian idiot…_

"Indeed he is. So…would you rather sleep now and I take the bed later or you stick to your side and I'll stick to mine?" True he was rather tired but he grew up with the knowledge of accommodating the female.

"Um…I'm pretty sure we're both exhausted. We'll just do the latter." She shrugged a bit before walking towards the left side where she sat on the bed for a moment before laying down. Marth sighed before unhooking the latch to his cape and placing it down on a nearby chair where his sword was. He went towards the right side noticing the Samus already seemed to be dreamland but was met with a short statement by hers truly.

"I'm just going to apologize ahead of time because I tend to kick in my sleep, or I used to at least." Her eyes remained closed and after that she did not speak again, she simply turned to face the opposite direction of him in hopes of making it less awkward. He in turn did the same.

_PFFT, like that would be even remotely possible._

_**Ten Minutes into the Hour…**_

"This so boring! Why do we have to wait an hour anyways?" Roy sighed before falling back onto his bed. So far this day he went from walking for four hours to sitting for another hour, and now he was subject to be stuck in this booth for yet another hour. His energetic personality was not made for this.

"I suppose you weren't told, in fact only a select few were. There was an attempted break-in at Smash earlier during the preparations for Brawl. They were captured and detained of course but no other information that was given on the subject to those present." Link responded to the redhead in a serious manner. Ike was listening to the conversation as well even though he was a newcomer he had heard that Smash Mansion had an excellent reputation and security standings.

"That seems all too odd, serves the idiots who tried it right though." Roy chuckled not giving much thought to the minor situation, the others followed suit in his laughter.

"So now what should we do?" Ike stood up from his rather comfy seat, definitely better than the stone hard ones they sat in while waiting to take this trip. Stretching his arms out to relieve the stiffness he was unsure of what would come next.

"We can either raid the fridge or build a house of cards. I found a pack of 'em in that drawer." Seemingly out of nowhere he pulled out the card pack and promoted a smile upon his face hopingly they either picked that or came up with a better idea.

"I guess that'll have to do till we're allowed to move around." Link turned towards the table they were about to use hoping that this tower of cards would actually be able built while they were on a moving train.

_**Fifty Minutes into the Hour…**_

"Tell me Peach, how is it that you're able to indentify that many things while we're on a train that is most likely moving ninety plus miles an hour?" Zelda held an exasperated look on her face after Peach was successfully able to complete the task of finding all listed landmarks on their paper. The train was passing things by fast enough but apparently Peach's eyes were faster.

"You learn to be more perceptive when you've constantly got Bowser sending his goombas after you. The damn mushroom things are quicker than you think and even more annoying!" She shook her head disapprovingly at Bowser's continuous antics.

Zelda look up and away from Zelda for a moment when she heard knock at their booth's door, "Yes, come in."

"Hey Peach, Zelda we're just here to take signatures for the roster…again." It was Fox but they also noticed Falco was with him.

"Ah ok. You know how much time is left till we get to leave the booths?" Peach smiled as she wrote her name down and passed the paper to Zelda, her question had probably been asked multiple times.

"Heh, about five minutes. We've just got one more booth to hit, Marth and Samus are in it I believe. I think they'll make an announcement when we can all get out. If you think about it, it's really just a chance to be bored for another twenty-three hours just with others." Fox responded knowledgeable like and they gave a short laugh at his thoughts.

"Alright, hey when you talk to Samus tell her to come see us when they let us out, okay?" Zelda popped into the conversation happily, having Samus out of their group was just not as fun. She actually felt that she missed the woman's sarcastic comments.

"Sure thing, see ya' princesses later." He left the door slightly ajar as they left but it made no big difference besides the bare sound of him knocking down the corridor.

"It's just been so long…I feel like catching up with everyone." Peach exhaled exasperatedly but relived her feelings with a simple smile, something that always did the trick for her. When in doubt, smile!

All of a sudden they heard a small noise; both shared a questioned glance before they went to the door. Deciding to check up on what happened they saw no other Smasher out their booth as they exited their own.

"What was that?" Peach meant it as a rhetorical question and Zelda was wise enough to know, they would soon find out.

"Fox? Falco? Did something happen?" They entered the booth that supposedly housed Samus and Marth. Falco look at them questionably before looking back towards the area that would house beds or should they say bed. It seemed Samus's kicking habit had subsided and turned into a tossing and turning problem. Both were facing each other and Samus's arm was covering Marth's face while his leg had moved on top of hers, a very compromising and unintended position of course.

"We've got this…just go give your list to Master Hand." Fox and Falco still had strange looks on their face but shrugged and walked out, their footsteps sounding less and less as they moved farther down the hall.

"This would have been a good time to have a camera. Ah well." Peach laughed innocently before relaying another comment, "They must be _really _heavy sleepers."

"Peach! That would be invading privacy…or whatever you would call this situation." Zelda usually frowned upon Peach's antics even though she put up with them, "Ahem…Samus? Samus, wake up already."

Zelda's voiced raised a bit more than normal and it seemed enough to stir Samus into consciousness and when she moved her arm suddenly away it awoke Marth in return.

"The fuck?" Samus jerked back even though she was still in a half daze before realizing Zelda and Peach were in the room, "What's going on?"

"Oh I figured you could explain to us." Peach jokingly messed with Samus who was just realizing what kind of position she and Marth were in.

"Now seriously Peach, you know we didn't do anything. I would believe even Roy is smart enough to realize that…well maybe not but still." Marth scratched the back of his head as he sat up; this was not how he imagined waking up. He didn't dare look at Samus in fear of the death glare she most likely held.

"What he said." She held a flustered, flat-tone as she agreed with the blue-haired swordsman.

"Relax silly, we know. I was just messing you two!" Peach giggled before speaking once more, "Oh and Sammie come see us when they allow people out the booths." She smiled and waved at her rather silly before exiting promptly with Zelda following her out without another word.

_What a day this seemed to have become…_

"Not another word on the subject, don't need rumors floating around, fair enough?" She spoke mostly under her breath but Marth was able to understand. In all honesty he respected her, heck they were friends…sort of, but somethings could still send Samus over the edge. That was the last thing he wanted, a forever pissed off Samus.

"Whatever you say _Sammie_." Marth waved his hand to blow off the forcefulness, besides one little playful remark couldn't hurt, could it? Before Samus could make another remark the intercom system blasted to life with Master Hand speaking on the other end.

"At this time we are announcing that the safety hour is up, you may all go about your business that involves leaving your booths." Just as soon as the announcement was told it ended, and with that came another awkward silence between the two.

"We'll talk later…_princess._" Samus cracked half a smile before leaving the area and heading off to Peach's booth, who knew what hell she'd pay next. _What a complicated web people weave for themselves._

* * *

Peach and Zelda reached their room and sat down; mainly to wait for Samus but now it seemed they had something new to discuss. Each knew that Samus's past had affected her ability to hold relations with others and they had continuously tried to work on it during Melee when they were lucky enough to become close to the best of friends. She had confided many secrets in their small group which helped each gained the trust of the others.

They heard the announcement about the hour being over and eagerly awaited the bounty hunter's presence, within moments they heard her light footsteps. She entered the room calmly as could be and quietly took a seat beside her two friends.

"So, how was the beginning of the trip for you?" Samus spoke casually as if nothing in the previous seven minutes had happened. Just like her to blow off any situation to protect her emotions.

"Sammie, you know it's not good to bottle up things." Peach spoke in her regular tone of voice in hopes that Samus would just consider talking to her and Zelda, the chance of her hopes doing anything to make it possible were slim to none.

"How was it?" This time the way Samus spoke it was if she was gritting her teeth, the matter would just have to be left alone for the moment.

"Alright, alright. It was fine, a little boring though." Peach decided in an instant it was best give on the approaching cat fight. She knew Samus trusted her but was it not enough to discuss all of her problems?

"She's right. They need to provide more things to do next time." Zelda tried her best to help relieve the situation but Peach and her snide comments always seem to break through.

"They need to provide more things in general Zeldie! For instance, one more bed." Peach giggled in a conniving way, oh how she loved to mess with Samus. It was all in good fun after all. Samus had a simple look on her face, the kind that said _'You did not just do that…'_

"Oh yes I did Sammie, you'll have to learn how to work out your problems verbally. In fact, if there was no problem I don't see a big deal with us talking about it. Now if you both excuse me I'm going to go find a meal. You can both join if you like." Peach gracefully walked out, boy did she like telling it to people. They would have to learn one day that she was smarter than she appeared. _Damn blond stereotypes._

"How the hell am I supposed to respond to that?" They got up from their chairs and ultimately had no other choice but to follow Peach. Perhaps Peach was correct in saying what she told Samus? Zelda shook her head, how did she become friends with these maniacs again anyway.

* * *

When they got there it seemed a few other Smashers had the same thinking, food first, games later. The train that carried the Smashers to their far away destination was rather…stocked, or perhaps high class would be the correct way to go. It was equipped with a full dining hall, non-nastified bathrooms, and of course a kitchen.

Though it was a little less than half of the Smashers attending the tournament it was still quite lively, especially compared to a _normal_ group of people.

Grabbing a plate of the freshly prepared and served Vichyssoise, which consisted of puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock, with salad on the side they found a seat with Peach and the rest of the group which Samus was not as close with.

"This soup is amazing, definitely an improvement to last year's cooking." Roy praised the food he had received; he decided to eat the dish cold even though it could also be eaten hot.

"Perhaps it's because they asked me to help out with the meal recipes this year." Peach smiled at his most likely unintended compliment.

"Oh…you couldn't have picked a simpler name to call it then?" Roy countered not realizing he was praising Peach's fine culinary skills.

"Oh I see you like the simple things, is that why your brain works that way all the time?" Peach fired back with a smirk and received a few chuckles from Link and Ike.

"Oh just can it Pea-" Roy and his flamboyant personality was stopped mid sentence by Samus.

"Just give it a rest you two. Yes it could have been given a simpler name but that doesn't matter. The soup is tasty. End of story." Samus didn't really snap at the two she more-so interrupted their friendly spat. However that did not stop the looks she received from her to-be friends. She continued to stir her spoon through the steaming soup; she chose to eat it hot.

"Geez, what's the de-" Roy was interrupted yet again but this time it came from Peach.

"I would not finish that question if I were you." She sported one of her warning smiles before almost starting up a conversation between Ike and Zelda.

"Sorry, just a little…" She couldn't quite find the word to describe the feeling.

"We understand Samus. It's perfectly fine." Marth responded as if he had no clue what was in fact was bothering her even though he did know to some extent. Once again she received curious looks between the friends and this time Marth was added to the suspicion.

"Alrightie then. Shall we continue eating?" Link imposed on the conversation but they shrugged and followed his suggestion. _What a weird bunch of friends…_

_**Twelve out of twenty-four hours into the trip…**_

The group had attempted many ways to relieve their boredom but all efforts eventually led back to not knowing what to do next. Currently they were camped out in Link and Roy's booth since it was a slightly larger area than the others. Ike had been chosen to help Master Hand along with Pit

Zelda and peach decided to share the couch while Link and Roy sat Indian-style on their own beds which Samus of course had steered clear of. They were in the middle of watching clips from last year's tournament matches, each could see the mistakes they had made when they lost a match.

"Damn, how could I have not seen him place that pitfall!" Roy frowned for a moment before he decided to speak again, "Well I know I've improved greatly during our absences. That certainly won't happen again!"

"Ten bucks says it happens to him again." Link didn't bother whispering as he called out towards Zelda. She nodded and stifled a laugh just as Peach had to.

"When are you guys gonna stop picking on me?" Sporting a pouting face he took the remote that link had and flipped to the next match. It was one of the final team matches featuring Zelda and Samus versus Marth and Captain Falcon. Boy had that match been one to see.

"Oh I remember this one now! We sure kicked butt didn't we Sam?" Zelda looked towards Samus who was locked in on the screen watching what went on but eventually she received a response back, "Oh yeah, we sure did."

As they watched the two minute match it proceeded to show various advantages that each contender had over each other as well as disadvantages. There was really nothing abnormal about the melee match to anyone but Samus remembered and confirmed from watching this that Marth had hesitated in attacking her at one point which was most likely one of the major reasons they were able to win that match.

Soon enough though the recording had ended and they decided to view one more, the final match between Link and Mario, the one that would decide the winner of Melee. Many called it a clichéd match but that didn't stop their enjoyment from watching it and supporting their choice fighter.

"I have to say Link, you really outshined a lot of the Smashers in this one match but you're definitely gonna get more of a fight from us this year, especially me." Samus decided to be a bit more social and started off by commenting on the last Melee match they chose to watch.

"Well thanks and I would expect nothing less from you Samus. Zelda tells me your skills are beyond outstanding and from what I saw on the tapes I believe it for sure." Link was flattered that Samus, out of all people, would compliment his skills. Then again once you got to know her she was pretty nice, at least nicer than she let on.

_**Twenty hours out of twenty-four hours into the trip…**_

"Wait…I've got it! We could pull a prank with the intercom system." Roy chimed in with yet another idea, after they'd finished discussing the Melee recordings Samus, Zelda, and Peach had gone to one their booths to talk about who knows what. Ike still hadn't come back yet so it left Marth, Roy, and Link left to fend for their own selves. Link and Marth exchanged wary glances before agreeing since they could not agree on anything better to do.

The trio made their way down the corridor that opened up into the dining room they had previously eaten in earlier. The aroma had changed from a warm, inviting scent to that of something similar to smell of eggs.

"What are they cooking now?" Link looked into one of the kitchen windows as they walked through before turning back to the front so that he wouldn't walk into anything.

"Who knows with Peach cooking, hopefully something tasty like we had for lunch." Marth enjoyed the soup they had earlier very much. As they continued going through they saw Samus and Zelda exit one of the doors with some utensils and dishware in hand. Samus, who was carrying the large stack of plates, was doing a pretty good job managing the weight until she unluckily had her foot hit the edge on one of the chair legs.

Marth, who had been raised on proper etiquette in his younger days in the kingdom, was about to say hi to the two women but instead acted on quick instinct and caught most of the falling plates; Samus was able to catch herself before she fell down. Only a couple of the plates crashed against the floor, cracking upon impact. Samus frowned at her klutziness, she just wasn't herself today, and normally she was very spot on and intact.

"Damnit…" Samus mumbled a few other curses under her breath and set the remaining plates on the table.

"Now there's no need for such language Samus. I'll help you." He carefully placed the plates he had caught on the table besides Samus's and turned towards Roy and Link who were starting to follow over but he responded, "No, it's alright, you two can go on if you wish."

Link and Roy shrugged and continue moving through the dining area until they were out of sight, at least Marth would not get in trouble if they did get caught.

"Is there a broom and pan somewhere?" He asked the question openly and Zelda responded first.

"I believe there was one if you go in through the door we just came from. Look to the right." Marth nodded and went off to get it, his cape swaying with each step. Samus noticed his chest plate was still off but what need would he have for it anyway.

"Well well, that was interesting." Zelda spoke quietly with an amused laugh to accompany it.

"What was?" Samus asked curiously as she stood up after picking up a couple larger pieces that had not broken up too small, she was still listening though.

"Oh nothing silly, I was just talking to myself" She closed her eyes and nodded, "I'll go put out the napkins and silverware while you two take care of that. I assume you can finish up the plating with him."

"Yeah yeah." She waved her off and noticed Marth was walking back towards her a broom in his hand to sweep up the mess and pan to put it in, if only life would be that simple. She supposed she'd just have to deal with it best she could, she was Samus. A bounty hunter at that!

"Just where she said it was." Marth smiled and start sweeping the mess in a neater pile so it would be easier to pick up and so that no one would injure themselves by stepping on a piece.

"Yep." Samus took a step back so that she wouldn't be in the way, "You…um…missed that spot."

"Oh thanks. Hey what's being cooked back there? It smelled pretty good when I went in there." Marth was almost finished when she mentioned the area so he started sweeping the area there.

"It is scrambled eggs with soy sauce, better tasting than you think." She nodded with her comment and grabbed a nearby garbage bag for the broken plate pieces. Marth dumped the pieces into it and Samus tied a knot into it.

"I'll go toss it if you like, got to put this back anyway." Marth nodded and took the bag from her, holding it in the opposite hand he had the broom in but he noticed Samus was walking beside him in a moment or so. When he gave her a questioning glance she responded quickly.

"Oh, Peach wanted me to watch over the food, wouldn't want it to burn right?" She gave a slow laugh but Marth didn't seem to notice its dryness.

"Ah, makes sense."

"Would you wanna help me set the plates in a minute?" She said it unsurely, which was also unlike her normal behavior.

"Sure Samus." He stopped short of the door allowing Samus to enter first and then continued behind her after.

* * *

**a/n: I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I really wanted to get it up and I'll soon start working on the third installment. There'll most likely be less fluff in the next 1 to 2 chapters, not sure yet. I wanna get into the fighter mood. So tell me what you thought, I would love some more feedback! **


	3. Don't Hold Back

**Title: How it Worked Out**

**Chapter: 3*Don't Hold Back**

**a/n: woo!**

**Edit 1: Changed time till exhibition matches from 1 week to 3 months. LOL  
**

**LINEBREAK**

Through the final hours of the trip things had toned down but there was still a sense of anxiousness in the air.

"We have just passing into the boundaries for Nintendo City. When we get to the train station, there'll be a fifteen minute bus ride to the actual mansion. For now please report back to your assigned booths and stay there until a R.O.B. allows you out…_and please no horseplay during this._" Master hand seemed to put more emphasis on the last bit but to most of the Smashers listening the reason was unknown.

_**LINEBREAK**_

Upon hearing the announcement Zelda and Peach waved goodbye to Samus and Marth and headed back to their room. Settling onto the chairs placed by the windows they looked outwards but noticed they were still traveling across some plains; however the city was in view.

"This is going to be a great year, I just know it!" Peach chimed upon seeing some of the tall, sky scraper like buildings. She remembered the city so very well since the last time she came but it seemed to have changed just a bit.

"I almost wish it were a longer span of time though but I suppose we'll just have to make the most of it" Zelda sighed before noticing something beside the window…it was Pit! Zelda couldn't help but laugh at his cheerful expression and she looked at him with a burning curiosity.

"What...Oh my! What is he doing?" Peach exclaimed the question humorously though it was as if Pit read her lips. He mouthed the words 'Ike' and 'patrolling'. Peach nodded and waved back to Pit who began to fly back towards the next cart.

"I believe he's helping Master along with Ike to look out for any funny business." Peach ran her fingers over the ruffles of her dress to straighten them out.

"Ah, I see that's what Master Hand wanted them for." Zelda smiled, watched the city buildings come closer and closer, and happily listened to Peach's chatter of what fun they would have during this next year.

_**LINEBREAK**_

Finally they had arrived at the station and slowly but surely more and more Smashers exited the train after being given instructions by a R.O.B. just as Master Hand had said earlier. One booth would leave at a time and since they started at the front of the train that made for a little longer waiting time than Samus would have liked. Marth noticed her impatience and chuckled.

"What?" She scowled at the noise he made and turned to face the door that had slid open. It was finally their turn to get out of that god forsaken train. Sure it was okay at first but after a while Samus had felt cramped into a tiny space. True she traveled space in a rather small sized ship but she was doing it while in the _vast_ area of space!

"You are the last to be escorted out so please follow behind closely and attempt not to stray." The robot's voice was quick with explanation and waited a moment as Marth and Samus stood up as they exchanged glances, _controlling much?_ The robot slowly turned and began rolling towards an exit; they had to hold a rather speedy pace just to keep up.

When they got outside they saw the rest of the Smashers which the R.O.B. was bringing Marth and Samus to. After completing its job the mobile robot went to Master Hand who was outside now as well.

"Task complete." The robot told the floating hand and received a response of praise, "Thank you R.O.B. 679, dismissed." The R.O.B., labeled 679, turned and headed back onto the train.

"We will now board the bus and officially arrive at Smash Mansion." Master Hand started floating towards the bus with the Smashers trailing behind. The line was long and required just a bit more patience for those at the back of it, hopefully something the group of six had.

The Smashers were not the only ones in the area, in fact they had quite a few people walking through the area, and luckily they minded their business. This didn't stop the Smashers from getting curious looks though. Smash tournaments were broadcasted to the public in Nintendo City which gave them quite a fan base.

Slowly but surely the line was shortening and when Samus was nearly to the door she felt a small tapping on the back of her shin; upon turning around she caught sight of a small girl behind her.

"Mo- I mean Miss Samus!" The little girl stared up at Samus with amazement showing in her deep crystal blue eyes, her golden locks that were similar to Samus's own swayed with the breeze.

"Uh…hello." Samus stared at the kid strangely, she seemed to be about four or five years of age, too young to be by herself. She looked around but noticed no parent in sight or at least a freaked adult looking for something they had lost.

"Would you please sign this paper? I watch your old matches on my TV all the time with my teddy bear! My parents have them recorded." Samus carefully took the simple piece of paper and pen.

"Well…sure. What is your name?" As Samus signed, the little girl told her that she was named _Aniel._

"Where are your parents?" Samus received an odd look form Aniel and then a giggle.

"_They are right here silly!"_ The girl smiled and before either she or Samus could speak again they were interrupted. Samus turned around to see who it was.

_Marth._

"Who were you speaking to Samus?" He was the last one to get on and noticed Samus talking to someone but to whom? Samus moved out of the way to let him see the young child but when she looked back the young girl was gone.

"…No one. Let's just get on the bus." She sighed and entered the elongated vehicle.

_**LINEBREAK**_

The bus halted suddenly which caught the attention of the Smashers and if any of them happened to doze off they were certainly awake now, that was if Roy didn't wake them first…

"_Finally!_" Roy had been staring out one of the bus windows ever since he had gotten on. His loud cheer almost echoed down the line of seating and he basically jumped from his seat as she rushed out of the area and off the bus. As he bolted down the walk-way his direction was set towards the overly larger _Smash Mansion_.

"Roy…Alright Smashers, head to the meeting hall for introductions and information. You'll be assigned your roommates and be given the schedule for the upcoming exhibition matches." The giant hand floated in the same direction the energetic red-head had gone in.

_**LINEBREAK**_

The meeting room was more than enough space to hold thirty-five Smashers plus. There was a stage—with seating of course—and an open area that catered to just about any use. Most of the Smashers had claimed a seat but there were a couple stragglers still getting to one.

Once everyone found a seat, Master Hand gained their attention with a rough cough and began his greeting to them, "Welcome Smashers to this year's Brawl Tournament. During my absence of the past seven years I have been changing around certain rules, deciding who to add to our _Smasher family_, and what to do about the previous attempts at a _break-in_. Which I might add was unsuccessful. Some of you were informed of this occurrence already but I feel that everyone has a right to know. For now there is nothing to worry about and both I and Crazy Hand will keep you informed."

Master Hand stopped for a moment to let the information sink in and a sea of murmured talk grew. The giant hand continued his speech, "Now, under the chair you sit in there are two sheets. One tells of whom you'll be roomed with for the tournament duration and the second one is how the opening exhibition matches will go. Like tradition, the first match will be the same as the previous tournament's final match. There will be some who do not participate in these first matches but do not fret. Exhibition matches are for fun and will be held in three months so be sure to brush up on your skills as best as you can. Alright, Smashers dismissed."

"Ooh, I can't wait to see Mario and Link's matchup!" Peach was looking over the sheet with the match list.

**First Round of Exhibition Matches**

_**1 vs. 1**_**: ****1. **Link vs. Mario **2. **Lucas vs. Olimar **3.** Pit vs. Snake

_**Team Matches**_**: 4. **Young Link/Pikachu vs. Ness/Jigglypuff **5. **Meta Knight/Falco vs. Samus/Marth

**6.** Peach/Donkey Kong vs. Sonic/Fox

_**1 vs. 1**_**:****7. **Luigi vs. King Dedede **8.** Zelda vs. Diddy Kong **9**. Captain Falcon vs. Roy

_**4-way Match**_**: 10.** Ike vs. Wolf vs. Bowser vs. Trainer Red

"Me too. They put you on a team match Peach, that's great!" Zelda responded happily, team matches were where people really paid attention. They were also a great way to earn extra Smash coins which was the currency in Nintendo City.

"Yeah…with Donkey Kong. Ah well, I noticed Samus and Marth got teamed together. That'll be interesting." The blonde princess smiled and saw Samus walking over.

"Hey girls, we're rooming together again." Samus spoke as she sat down next to Zelda, she was wearing her zero suit.

**1. **Mario, Luigi **2. **Jigglypuff, Pikachu **3. **Ganondorf

**4. **Meta Knight, Lucario **5. **Fox, Falco **6. **Ness, Lucas, Young Link

**7. **Nana, Popo **8. **Kirby, Yoshi **9. **Trainer Red (Charizard, Bulbasaur, Squirtle)

**10.** Wolf, Captain Falcon **11. **Link, Roy, Marth **12. **Zelda, Peach, Samus

**13.** Ike, Pit **14. **Bowser **15. **Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong

**16.** Olimar **17. **King Dedede** 18. **Snake, Sonic

**19.** Game and Watch, R.O.B.

"Shocker." Peach exclaimed jokingly, there was obviously no surprise though since the three were partnered together last time for…_obvious _reasons as well.

"What room will we have this year?" Zelda stretched her legs as she got up from the burgundy colored chair.

"Twelve, I believe, and we're surrounded by idiot men." Samus pointed on her sheet and when the other two princesses looked they had to stifle a laugh.

_**LINEBREAK**_

The wireframes guided the three women to their new room, vanishing into thin air once they completed their task. Zelda handed Samus and Peach a copy of the room key. Upon entering the room they noticed the layout and size of the area was different.

"The rooms are bigger now, aren't they?" Samus brushed her bangs out of the way of her eyes after putting some items on the bed she chose to take. It was beside a window which gave a grand view of the darkened sky. The bounty hunter found the stars the best part and her two friends knew this.

"They are Sammie and the bathroom has more space too!" The response she was give was spoke excitedly. Peach came out of the powder room and grabbed a stack of papers, "I'll be gone for a while, I need to drop off these menus."

"Alright, I suppose I should go find Link. You'll be alright Samus?" Zelda looked towards the bounty huntress who was currently staring out the window.

At first Samus did not respond but soon she spoke back, "Yeah, I'm just going to rest. We can talk later about it."

"Okay, see you Samus." The Princess of the Hyrulian Kingdom walked through the open doorway, closing the door gently behind her. Once Samus heard the click of it shutting she sat on the edge of her bed and eventually laid down completely. With her hands supporting her head from behind she continued to stare into the sky, _into space._

_**LINEBREAK**_

When Samus awoke the room was almost pitch black excluding the minor amount of moonlight streaming through the window. She got up slowly so there'd be no rush of blood to her head making her vision go lopsided for a few moments. Upon exiting the room she remembered leaving her key on the bed but paid no mind as there wasn't a true reason to lock the door at this time.

Walking down the hall in a slightly lost manner she noted the different portraits as she passed. Some were of the very first tournament, others of the one before this, and there were some she did not recognize. Passing a room with the number eleven over it she both heard and saw the door handle turn. It was none other than the flamboyant redhead, Roy, from earlier.

"Oh hey Samus." He had his usually goofy smile on but the cause of it she did not know.

"Hi Roy…do you know where everyone is at?" She'd forgotten to ask where she'd meet the girls—well any of her friends—at once she woke up.

"Yeah, I was just getting ready to meet them. They're in the dining area. Tag along?" He started to walk off and left Samus to follow which of course she did.

"Mmm. It's quiet tonight." Samus commented as she caught up, they weren't quite near the dining area—which would no doubt be louder than anything they'd ever heard—so they were met with a thickening but non-bothersome silence.

"Heh, yeah. I suppose it won't be like this tomorrow but to be honest I prefer the noise versus quiet." For a moment Roy's bubbly speech seemed to sober, was there an underlying issue? Samus noted the now hearable background noise and could see Roy's expression revert back to normal.

"It definitely won't." Samus remained neutral as they entered through the open double doorway, heavy chatter and loud noise gracing their ears. As they neared the serving area with their plates ready, multiple scents hit their noses. A traditional meal of spaghetti with meat sauce was seen with buttered bread on the side and from the sweet aroma floating around as well it would seem apple pie was for desert.

After fixing their plates just right they looked for their group of friends and saw them easily with Peach's semi-spastic waving. The quickly walked towards the source of 'cheerfulness' and took a seat.

"About time you two." Both brushed off Ike's comment and began to dig into their food. As expected there was a disturbance once they really started to enjoy their food. Without any sort of notice two '_boxes'_ came running into the room and a third—that was evidently over Charizard's head-followed behind grudgingly as they quickly exited through another hall.

"Look you animals! Give me back those boxes!" Snake—a new recruit for this tournament—said angrily. He was stalking behind the three in an annoyed fashion. Red followed behind, his face white as a ghost, wondering what would become of his precious but disobedient pokemon.

"Look at that, dinner and a show, how nice." Roy commented at the unexpected event which made Link and Ike snicker. The group had just about finished their food and was ready to part ways for the night.

_**LINEBREAK**_

The following three months had progressed nicely with many Smashers fine tuning their moves and practicing new ones, of course there were a few hitches. It seemed that stealing Snake's boxes were not the only trickery Red's Pokémon had pulled. During training between Marth, Snake, Falco, and Olimar every time Snake pulled a sneak attack using his hidey-hole of a box they had been sharpified.

_It was the precise moment he had waited for being as Marth and Falco were having a face off and Olimar was deciding who to side with for the moment. He slipped under his box that ordinarily helped add to his stealthiness. He could hear footsteps coming towards him and he readied for a counter-attack but it never came…_

_At first all could hear was straight out laughing from Falco no doubt and then a series of non-human squeaks from the Pikmin. What was going on? Emerging from the box swiftly he was met with the three staring at him with large grins._

"_What? What are you all laughing at?" Marth simply rolled his eyes and Falco continued his laughing but Olimar simply pointed to his box. Upon noticing it he saw several scribbles all over his precious box! One was of a rather poorly drawn scary face—which must have freaked out the timid but loyal pikmin—another was a series of words '__**Kick Me"**__ and the last seemed to be general gibberish drawing._

"_Why those little-" Before Snake could finish his rather vulgar statement Marth commented quickly, "Now Snake, they were just having some fun. Just use another box, okay?"_

_Snake eyed him for a moment unamused as he tossed the box to the side and simply pulled another out only to be met with the same predicament just with different doodles, he could hear more chuckling from the growing audience. __**He was so going to kill those Pokémon!**_

"_Damn! Red's Pokémon are near genius!" Falco howled at the sight, he would tell Foxx all about this later._

"_Shut up Falco."_

Soon it was time for the first of many exhibition matches…

_**LINEBREAK**_

Link watched as Mario stepped into the transporter—a machine that teleported them onto the battlefield—and after a moment or so he did the same. While the electric feeling was familiar he still felt jittery whether it was because this was the first match of the tournament—exhibition or not—or because he just needed to get back into practice. He watched as the light particles grow bigger and brighter until they finally blocked his vision into complete darkness. When his vision returned he saw the playing field. It was Final Destination, not only was it was tradition for the last match of one tournament to be the first of the next they also used the same arena.

He watched as Mario materialized before his eyes on the other end of the straight, horizontal platform. Though he could not see them he knew many if not all the Smashers were watching.

"This is a simple, fair fight. There will be no assist trophies or items however. You both have one stock, the first to run out will be declared loser of the match, the other will be confirmed the winner. Have a nice match you two, do your best." They could hear Master Hand but could not see him, and a few seconds later there was a booming count down so both took their stance.

Nodding to Mario at the sound of _**Go**_ he dashed towards his opponent sending out a low sword swipe in hopes of making the first hit. Mario jumped upwards at the last moment avoiding the attack barely and did a bicycle kick to Link's face. After being knocked back a few feet onto his back he hurried to his feet. Mario was pulling a minor celebratory stance for the crowd—another tradition of Smash was to claim the first hit for good luck. Normally whoever claimed it was the one to win—so Link took advantage by doing a roll towards the Italian plumber and hitting him with a Triple Sword Strike.

Mario shook his head to get his bearings again before throwing out a couple fireballs towards the Hylian swordsman who used his shield to take the impact leaving him unscathed. Mario ran forwards charging his fire punch for use as he neared Link. Since Link's sword was sheathed he jumped backwards luckily missing the punch which would have no doubt done a great deal of damage to him. However he was not safe just yet, Mario came at him with his normal punch and kick combo. He dodged the first two would-be hits but once again the kick hit him square in the gut causing him to lose his breath. He used his shield once again to block the incoming fireballs before he regained his composure and unsheathed his sword pointing it at Mario.

"Don't get too cocky, friend." He was met with a simple smile before they began to fight again. Link pulled his sword into the correct stance as Mario ran toward him. Mario attempted to grab the swordsman to do a spinning toss but it was a futile effort as Link easily dodged the move by jumping over him. He felt that was a rather amateurish move for Mario who was certainly an experienced veteran of the game. As he was over Mario, Link did a vertical spin attack with his sword that no doubt hit him. Before Mario could recover from the sudden attack Link threw a bomb towards him which exploded near its intended target. Once the dust settled Link could not see the plumber but he had not been deemed the winner so Mario must have been hanging by the ledge.

He thought about his position rather clearly, if he rushed over to the edge like an amateur he would most certainly be caught in an attack by Mario but waiting right here was dull and boring. This fight needed more action so he would just be more on the defensive for the moment. He stepped closer and closer towards the edge until he saw Mario spring from his hold on the edge which sent him rather high in the air. Moments later he could see fireballs being sent his way more than before. It was too late to pull his shield so he used his arm to take the burn from the ones he could not dodge and damn did they sting like hell.

He didn't waste much time focusing on the petty injury as he became fixated on the still-standing Mario. He was breathing as was the plumber which made him unsure of how much longer this fight would go on. Mario continued his rampage of fire sending another group—one after the other might I add—fireballs towards the Hylian. Link pulled out his boomerang and sent it towards Mario. They served two purposes however, one to dissipate the incoming fireballs and the other to ram against Mario's ankles. Upon completion the sturdy boomerang flew back towards Link who then stuck in back in the holster. He ran swiftly towards Mario who was already getting up. Grabbing onto his shirt Link upper-cutted Mario into the air who was severely weakened at this point was unable to put up a counter attack. When gravity finally took hold Mario fell heavily towards the ground however he never hit the solid platform. Link made quick work of finishing the match by using his sword as if it were a baseball bat and hit Mario in his side at just the right moment. Due to his amount of damage and the key attack Mario soared off screen and into the darkness.

"Mario has run out of stock, Link is the winner!" Master Hand's voice was so loud that it could probably be heard for miles. Link simple smiled and pointed his sword into the air marking his victory. He had done it! Before he could do anything else he was covered in light beams that were transporting him out of the arena.

When he reappeared he was in the transport container so he had to wait a moment for stepping out. However when he did he was met with a series of cheers and howls. The first match of the season was a big deal for Smash. It was the start of something new for them all.

"That was awesome! Good job Link." Link nodded towards the red head Roy's praise were soon drowned out when he noticed Zelda walking towards him.

"That was some serious fighting you two had going on. You both did excellent." Zelda commented peacefully, she felt a bit sorry for Mario losing the match but her joy for Link's victory was much greater.

"Yeah, but it was all in good sport. I'll go talk to Mario now, cheer him up. He kept me on my toes after all." Link smiled before excusing himself to talk to Mario himself. He wasn't by himself but when Luigi and Young Link noticed him they ran off with grins on their face and '_congrats'_ coming out their mouths.

"Hey, you did damn good out there." Link spoke first, he could tell Mario was a bit troubled. He figured it was mostly because of the match.

"Heh, I'm getting a bit old ain't I? You a really amazing opponent Link. It was an honor to fight against you." Mario nodded but it seemed something else was troubling him.

"Well don't let anyone tell you anything for this loss, okay? Anything else troubling you?" Link spoke confusedly and could see Mario was mulling something over in his thoughts.

"…There…was another break in while we were fighting. Don't tell anyone though. For right now only Luigi, Fox, and, Donkey Kong know." Mario shook his head in disbelief, why would anyone want to fool with Smash so disruptively like this?

"What?! Nobody got hurt right? What happened?" Link's thoughts were jumbled at first but he told himself to cool down. Master Hand would be able to handle this.

"They were coming to steal Smash files, not harm anyone…yet. They got the crook subdued and his in one of the back rooms. For now we just have to act natural and take care of it later."

"…Alright. I suppose we ought to get back to the rest of the Smashers." Link nodded confidently, they would get down to bottom of this. With the mutual understanding they began to walk back to the rest of the Smashers.

_**LINEBREAK**_

**Oh my, I hope I didn't kill you guys with that fight scene. It was my first after all xD So review with suggestions, requests, critiques! Anything but flames. I apologize for the wait as well; you know how writer's block and life can be. Enjoy!**


	4. Completely fine, my ass!

**Title: How it Worked Out**

**Chapter: 4*Completely fine, **_**my ass!**_

**a/n: Though it goes against what I was doing, I will not include the team match including Peach. AND I did research it (with minimal success .-.) on broken noses and how you talk. So just enjoy the humor at that later scene!**

* * *

Link stared at the small cup of medicine he had been given by Peach before chugging it down. Even after two other tournaments he still didn't acquire a feel for it like some others had. It was just a bit sour for his taste.

"Alright, there you two go. Now you won't be strained tomorrow due to the battle you just had." Peach didn't give the two a full on definition of what the liquid what do for them considering they already knew after drinking it countless times. However, to the newcomers this year should tell them the clear liquid eased any ache they would receive the next day. During a match, the wounds you received during it would come out through severe pain in the area. For instance, if the arm was slashed by a weapon instead of being an actual blood wound the area would become very tender and hurt at someone's touch. This medicine they called Revelare would either ride those nasty side-effects entirely or for the most part get rid of them depending on their severity.

"Thanks Peach, I think I'll go find Luigi now." Mario spoke as he left the bench they'd been sitting on and went to find his brother. Link told Peach his thanks as well and the both began to walk back to the group together.

"Oh, I almost forgot to offer you my congrats on winning the match we all thought you did amazing." She saw Link nod in response and before they could speak anymore Roy's rambunctiousness caught up to them.

"About time you got back to us Link. We've been waiting for you so we can decide what to do." Roy stepped back so that Link could be seen by the rest of the three. He received another round of congrats from those he had not seen earlier.

"I'm actually a little tired maybe we could just hang around the mansion tonight. Maybe we can party for real when the exhibition matches are over." Link wasn't technically lying since he was a bit tired from the match but he really wanted to stay close incase anything happened with the intruder they'd caught.

"That sounds fine to us." Marth chimed in afterwards; he wasn't exactly feeling the best lately anyways. He probably would have stayed behind if they'd gone out.

* * *

Link said his good nights to his friends and told Ike and Marth that'd he be back in a little bit since Master Hand wanted to see him. He wandered toward a meeting point where he saw Mario and Fox who both looked a bit agitated.

"He won't cooperate, then again it's not like we'd expect him to." Fox spoke first and Link shrugged his shoulders in response. There was nothing more to say for the moments so the three entered what they deemed the _interrogation room._

The first thing Link noticed about this peculiar intruder was its beady eyes that glowed brightly. They were meant for intimidation and cruel purposes, something the swordsman knew of greatly. The height of the creature was great even though it was in a forced sitting position. He almost seemed to look bug looking with his dirty and mischievous appearance but he definitely didn't come from his neck of the woods. After resonating on it for a moment the weapons were what gave it away to Link. He was from a futuristic type of place, somewhere in space, somewhere from Samus's life.

"You're a space pirate aren't you." More so a statement than anything, he knew he was right when the intruder spared him a glaring, amused look.

"You're a smart boy, aren't you? Tell me does Samus know I'm here? I bet she'd love a visit." Link held a disgusted face, _what was this creature getting at?_

"Why are you here? You better speak-a up!" Mario drove himself into the middle of their talking, if you could even really call it that.

"You're a tubby, impatient man it seems. I'm just here to do a job. That's all you'll need to know and for the record this won't be the last encounter." Once the space pirate finished speaking he scrunched his two thin bony fingers together. Link didn't care for the look in the creature's eyes

_Internal self-destruct sequence start…_

"**GET DOWN**." Before Link could register what was happening he saw one by one his fellow Smashers that were in the room duck down and so he followed in suit.

_in…3…2…1…_

He felt a sort of gooey substance on him which he didn't dare fool with at the moment. The somewhat-explosion made a more a mess with its victim's body than it did hurting them. He received multiple 'I'm ok' from the other four in the room. He was the next to speak however; his voice was neutral as always however there was an edge to it.

"Did you let Samus know about him?" He was standing in front of them now and let out a sigh. He knew the answer so he wondered why he even bothered to ask it.

"No. We were-a going to but…I suppose that plan has bit the dust-a now." Mario responded and shook his head in dismay; they were certainly not expecting that to occur. This seemed to be turning into a rather aggravating issue and now they were back to square one. They would alert Master Hand of what happened of course but what would happen next? A step up in security? Or worse…would they be sent home? No, that wouldn't happen, they were fighters—no brawlers! They could take whatever was thrown at them.

"Yeah, I suppose we need to report this to Master Hand?" Donkey Kong nodded at Fox's question. The ape seemed a bit perplexed himself, considering what just happened.

"I think Link and I will handle it, you three go get some rest." Fox threw his order out and the others nodded and soon left the scene, "Peach is not going to be happy about cleaning that up."

Though the moment was a serious one it did not stop the two from sharing a laugh. They continued to walk down a series of halls and corridors till they were met with a large set of double doors with the words _Master Hand_ in gold lining. With a single knock they were immediately met with a booming _enter_ which they did straight away.

"Update me." Instead of being met with the usual visual of a large white hand and his waving digits, they were looking at a man with gray hair. Not the sort of gray you when you're of an elderly age, it was just the shade of his hair.

"Things went a bit…awry. We are certain now he was a space pirate from Samus's dealings thanks to Link; however he self-destructed. He told us that there'd be more encounters. I honestly don't think this is just the work of these…space pirates. There is something more." Fox crossed his arms and leaned more on his back leg awaiting further talk from Master Hand.

"That is a bit discouraging, but none the less we will be prepared. For now though I'm going to assign the old wire frames for the job. So if you seem them wandering around don't be surprised." Master Hand appeared more confident now. It wasn't often when they saw him as a normal human over his gloved persona. They learned over the years that he used magic to shape shift into the hand for speaking to Smash generally and battles that required his presence.

"Alright, we'll do what we can as well." All three seemed to be greatly assured at this point and perhaps things would run smoother now.

"Don't work yourselves too much, dismissed." The two nodded, exited the room, and headed for their beds. It was almost midnight and they were both rather tired at this point.

* * *

After being postponed for a day, Olimar and Lucas's match was mostly uneventful. Out of the two timid brawlers Lucas pulled in a win which did appear to boost his confidence; Olimar however took it a bit hard. His pikmin were not discouraged one bit as they brought a smile to a lot of Smasher's faces at their silly antics.

The second match of the day which was after lunch occurred between Pit and Snake; simply enough many Smashers had money pinned on Snake grabbing the win. His new boxes still hadn't arrived so he was forced to brawl with the ones that had been sharpied. In the end Pit won the match was obviously ecstatic; the same was definitely not said for Snake. _How could he lose to such a child! _He stayed in his room brooding for a couple days earning the nickname of _sore loser._

The next matches came only a few days later and were to be the only set of team matches. The first started right after lunch, with the teams consisting of Young Link with Pikachu versus Ness with Jigglypuff. The brawl took longer than expected between the four, which was mostly due to the back and forth action of the brawl. Young Link and Pikachu came out on top but were excellent sports to their opponents who lost.

The second team match of the day was Meta Knight and Falco versus Samus and Marth. This was a much anticipated match as three were returning Smashers who had done very well in the previous tournaments along with a rather dark and mysterious newcomer who definitely knew how to put of a fight during training.

Like in all matches, the four simultaneously appeared in the stage which happened to be Castle Siege. Marth was a bit thankful as that gave him an advantage which gave his team another step towards victory.

"This will be a one stock brawl, no assist trophies or item usage, simply a fight of brute strength. The first team to be knocked out of the arena with zero stock left will be the loser, the other shall be claimed the winner. Play nice and play fair, good luck Smashers." There was a thick concentration in the area; these fighters were more on the intelligent side. They thought out strategies and were a bit tactful when fighting as compared to Bowser or Donkey Kong.

3…_2…__**1…GO!**_

Marth and Samus shared a nod of understandance as they both went for a different opponent. Marth took the obvious choice of Meta Knight who had his own sword to duel with and Samus—with her power suit on of course—began to fight against Falco. This match was sword for sword and gun for gun simply put.

In a clash of swords, Marth and Meta Knight threw attack after attack only to be parried by the other. At one point, there swords held in place as each pressed harder against it to throw back the other. They were truly both expert swordsman. After getting nowhere for the umpf-teenth time, Marth stayed back instead of lunging as he would have done before. With a quick thought he left himself open to Meta Knight's mercy—or so it was thought—, his sword simply sitting in a defense position. When he felt Meta Knight was at just the right spot he released the pent up energy in his sword through a charge slash. His sword, the Falchion, went over his head and in the direction of Meta Knight hitting at just the precise moment. The tip of the Falchion connected with Meta Knight's mask sending him recoiling towards the edge of the playing field and almost out of bounds. That definitely gave him some damage points.

After a moment of weakness he prepared himself as Marth came dashing forward his sword held horizontally. Meta Knight executed at attack with his sword, known as a low slash, which hit against Marth's ankles causing him to trip. He wasted no time in contributing another attack at Marth by slashing at him furiously, the sight looked both gracefully and wacky at the same time—if that kind of combination ever existed! Marth went sailing back across the arena towards Falco and Samus.

* * *

_This will be a piece of cake!_ Samus thought with a smug grin, Falco was a strong opponent but he was way too cocky which often led to his downfall. She began charging her arm gun the second Master Hand had roared _go, _she would always be prepared for anything. Falco didn't seem to notice as he fired his blaster at her. Dodging the shots by using her ability to transform into a tiny ball she released the beam at him. When it hit the desired target she silently cheered, though on the outside she was quieter with just a bare hint of stoicness, the inside she was just…_normal._

As he got up from being knocked down she could see he was annoyed which was just another reason for him to be sloppier. Falco must have decided to drop with using his gun because when he came at her with rather quick speed he began to use his physical attacks. She roughly dodged many of the kicks he threw at her but not all. At the end of his sequence she was hit by a rather high kick and an uppercut launch which sent her into the air.

Though Falco thought he had the advantage now she turned the tables on him by dropping a bomb and escaping out of range at the last minute. She charged up her cannon once more and watched the beam strike him again. Just then she saw Marth Flying towards her—scratch that, fly on top of her. When he accidently placed his hand on her cold robotic one as he tried to hurry and get up she felt a ticklish sense in the pit of her stomach. She brushed it off immediately as they were in a middle of a match and this was not a time to dilly-dally.

Before anyone could do anything a smash ball appeared from out of nowhere—mad dash activiate!—so they all began to go for it. Falco who was on a higher platform at the moment was about to jump up and hit it so that he would receive the power fell through what he thought was solid ground. The platforms that were in the air destabilized and vanished from site and the ground began to crumble and fade; the scene was changing! Now they were left with a mess of dirty white surroundings and a barely visible platform to stand on.

"Thank the heavens for that. Samus you go after it if you use the power at the right time you could knock them both out of bounds." Marth commented as they began to run after the free floating orb. Samus nodded and began to move more confidently, winning the match after all would be a big deal. Marth followed behind most likely to cover her as she tried for the floating ball. She noticed that Meta Knight got a hit on it, a mighty tough strike at that. As he fell back to the ground she could see he would be preoccupied with Marth so she went in for the grabs. She began to charge her arm cannon and jumped up as high as her power suit would allow. She managed to deal out two hits by kick as she went up and when gravity took a hold of her and began to drag her down she released her cannon it struck the Smash Ball.

In an instant she could feel a new sense of power course through her. She had done, she'd broken the Smash Ball! Now all that was left was to activate at the right time, which would be hard with the range of her attack. Without warning Falco attempted to surprise attack her but her better instinct took over and she round-house kicked him the instant she saw feathers which sent him back towards Meta Knight's area. _Perfect._

"_Marth, dodge!"_ She yelled it out instinctively as she set in motion her Smash attack. He noticed at a prime time and ran towards her and jumped up into the air. As the large flash of light escaped out of her arm cannon it was inevitable for Meta Knight and Falco to miss. They were hit directly and flew out the boundary lines instantly. Marth had dropped down behind her while clutching his nose.

By this time the power had toned down and took her Power suit along with it leaving her in her Varia suit. She turned around towards Marth ignoring the cascading boom of them being named the winners. She gave him an odd look before she could notice the blood dripping onto his glove.

"Uh, are you ok?" Samus raised a brow as Marth retracted his hand from his rather crooked looking nose. She could tell he was going to get frustrated from this unintended setback.

"I dink," She saw him pause for a moment as if he was contemplating something in his mind while looking aggravated, "I dink my 'ose is boken." Marth definitely knew his nose was broken at this point with humorous speech accent if the pain he felt had not given him the thought in the first place. Before Samus could respond or he say something else they began to get transported back to the mansion. When they full materialized they saw their friends walking over making Samus was a bit eager to see their reactions to Marth's temporary speech impediment—not that she liked that it was broken just that it was slightly funny highlight to her day.

"Dude, you two kicked ass!" Roy _as usual_ was the start to the conversation and _as usual_ he was oblivious to the injury on his best friend's face.

"Yes…it was quite a fun match to watch. Are you okay? You've got some blood on your gloves and…" Zelda knew it was a bit of an obvious statement but during the matches injuries with did not occur when the Smashers fought against each other. This was a bit odd.

"Doo see, I dink I boke my dose." Marth would have laugh nervously if it weren't for the continuous surge of pain riddling his nose. He wasn't looking forward to getting his nose set either; even though the pain of it was short it still stung a bit.

"Well that's unusual. Did Falco hit you or…?" Peach being the lovely side-nurse sought out to fix the problem but not without information of course.

"Dalco dicked me and I tacetanted." Marth's statement was met with quizzical looks—as well as snickers from Roy, Ike, and Link—to which he sighed, painfully he might add. He hadn't thought about his choice of words and how they would be affected when they came out.

"Could you say that again? He…dicked you?" Peach ran her gloved fingers through her golden hair; maybe her brain just wasn't processing the speech right.

"Dalco…dicked me and I dell on my tace." Marth grumbled once more as Peach still did not seem to understand him completely. He had racked his brain for a different word but simply could not think of one at the moment.

Before Peach could respond Samus intervened, "_He said_ Falco kicked him and he fell on his face, hence how he got the broken nose." Peach nodded with a polite smile now that she had gotten the information correctly translated.

"Oh I see now, my bad! You bypassed the match's rules, another player's hits cannot harm you to this extent however this was unintentionally self-inflicted. Now anyways, I can set your nose here or in the back room where you'll be going anyways."

"Sets gist go to duh dack broom." Peach seemed to catch on this time to Marth's speech and they left the scene.

"Oh, come along Samus you'll have to get a dose of Revelare anyways." Samus rolled her eyes at Peach's command and walked away from the group and followed the other two.

"I don't know about you guys but I prefer Marth that way much more, he's a lot more funny that way, don't cha' think?" Link lead the remaining group into a fit of laughs before they heard a loud yelp. A few minutes later Marth and Samus returned, the blue headed swordsman was holding an icepack over his nose now. Peach had stayed behind to give some of the medicine to the other team and did not return with them.

"Better now?" Ike asked with somewhat of an intention to see if the man still had the same voice as before or see if it had reverted back to normal.

"Mhm." He sighed at the three looks of disappointment from his three male friends but did not bother listening further. He was mostly in a daze due to being tired from the match he had fought in not too long ago. He could see Samus looked especially tired too; using Smash ball took a lot of energy out of you.

"The last team match should be starting soon, Peach is in it too." Zelda broke the silence peacefully and the others decided to go back and sit in the viewing room, which consisted of a large television that allowed them to see the match live. It also had a smaller television accompanying it that posted stats about the Smashers in the current match. When they walked in the room they saw on the large screen had information posted on it.

_**Next match begins in five minutes.**_

_**Peach & Donkey Kong versus Fox & Sonic**_

They took a seat in one of the many chairs provided; they were styled similarly towards those in a movie theatre but were more comfortable to sit in. Many Smashers followed suit after them each finding their own place to sit with a couple giving Marth an odd look because of the dark discoloration on his nose that reflected easily off of his pale skin. He responded by telling them everything was all right and placed the ice pack back over his bruised nose.

He looked at the noticeable screen before him which now said _Next match begins in less than a minute._ He was ready to see what his friends were made of in this match along with the new comer. He had heard he was from a land known as Sega which apparently was a rival here which made him a bit more intrigued. Marth was dragged out of his thoughts when he felt a sudden pressure his lap. When he glanced down he saw a yellow creature that was very mouse-like, Pikachu if he remembered correctly.

"Are you coming to sit with me for the match?" He removed the icepack from his nose for a moment so he could speak clearly to the Pokémon. He felt a smile grace his lips as the electric mouse stood on its hind legs to stare closer at his slightly damaged nose—or at least that's what he figured.

"Pika!" The mouse let out a sudden sneeze, stared blankly for a moment, then jumped onto the person's lap that was next to him, Samus.

"Oh, hello Pikachu." Samus, despite her tough façade, gave the Pokémon a nice head scratch and a bare smile. Perhaps this is why the little bugger loved her so much.

"Aw, Pikachu that breaks my heart." Marth said jokingly as he looked at Pikachu who had left him. The yellow creature simply said—_Pika, pika!—_before curling up nicely on Samus's lap.

An alert came on the board that the match was starting and everyone began to quiet down for the moment even though they'd be cheering loudly in a minute or so. The start of the match went off without a hitch each contender seemed to be facing each other with appropriate technique. About five minutes in though it seemed that Sonic and Fox were going to win the match after Peach was thrown off the stage and Donkey Kong went the same way a few minutes later. When the losing team appeared back in the area they saw Peach was less than happy but she walked towards them with pep in her step none the less.

"Now I know, there are always other matches. Heck this isn't even the real tournament, I know." Peach's comment received smiles from Zelda and Samus as she knew them all too well.

"Well you did well anyways. We all thi-" Link's positive comment was abruptly cut off when Marth brushed past him in a sudden rush. His ice pack had dropped to the ground being forgotten and he was covering his mouth with his hand.

"What's his deal?" Roy commented strangely as he scratched the back of his messy red hair. Marth had been awfully quiet lately and kept more to himself than anything the past few days.

"I have absolutely no idea." Ike responded and Link shrugged. Roy shook his head and followed after him. When he finally found him it was by the bathroom. Knocking on the door he waited a moment but received no response.

"Marth, you ok?" Roy was genuinely worried at this point especially when he received a hesitant reply.

"I'm-I'm fine!" The reply was a complete lie and the speaker knew it as he opened the door suddenly. The two seemed to be in a silent stare off for a moment or so before Marth broke the silence, "I just need to brush my teeth."

With that statement he walked away briskly leaving his normally cheerful friend even more utterly confused and worried. _That was such a lame excuse! Damnit, what's happening to me?_

* * *

**a/n: OHMY, what's happening to poor Marth! :C You'll have to wait to find out I guess o; I'm such a cruel author, I despise myself sometimes! I hope dearly that the story is not moving too quickly, there will definitely be a bigger plot than you guys think though. Reviews are welcomed!**


	5. Breathe of Life

**Title: How it Worked Out**

**Chapter: 5*Breath of Life**

**a/n: For the part where they(Samus & Marth) speak about their histories, I have tried to be accurate as possible but there will be a few teaks here and there! ;)**

* * *

Marth entered his room messily and closed the door quickly. That had been the third time he'd thrown up since the start of the exhibition matches. He couldn't tell whether he was getting sick or not and he was getting a bit tired of the back and forthness of whatever he did had. Going into the bathroom he took a glance at himself in the mirror, god he looked fucking terrible! He felt terrible too. He could see the discoloration around his nose but there was a bit yellowing around the iris in his eyes. He needed a shower; that would be just what he needed.

* * *

Roy became flabbergasted as Marth dashed away from him like that. _Was he hiding something?_ The fiery young adult grumbled to himself for a moment before deciding it would be best if he headed back to the group, perhaps one of them knew something he did not?

"Yo' Roy, did you find out what he ran away for?" Link questioned with a curious expression, after all he the triforce of courage, not wisdom like Zelda did. Roy shook his head.

"No, He went in the bathroom and when I tried to talk to him he said everything was fine and then he ran off again claiming something about teeth!" Roy said slightly angrily, this was ridiculous, what was going on! He could see Samus was biting her lip, did she know something they all didn't? When she caught Roy's glance she sent him a death stare.

"Sammie…if you know something you should speak up. We talked about bottling up things." Peach piped up, causing her to get several looks only for them to shift to Samus. Now the death stare Roy had been receiving was given to Peach but only for a moment before she decided to _speak up_.

"He said he had just been feeling under the weather for a while and told me he had some stomach bug. I caught him throwing up one day, _that's it. He's fine, alright!_" Samus folded her arms upsetly and let out a loud sigh. What was with her today?

"He's not fine, _that's the point Samus!_ This is being blown way to out of proportion, damnit. Why doesn't he just get some medicine from Peach?" Roy retorted, he wasn't truly mad as he was presenting himself he was just talking in the heat of the moment, "If he tells you everything, why don't you go try to talk to him about it!"

"_Maybe I will!"_ Samus stormed off away from the four in confusion, sure she and Marth were friends but they weren't super close like that or anything. She'd feel awkward if she went back to the group, so she did what she said she would—check up on Marth.

Upon finally finding the room she noticed it was closed and gave a small knock—no answer. She repeated the process and came out with the same result. Something in her gut feeling told her to enter the room anyway—which due to that feeling saving her life plenty of times—so she listened to it. When she entered the room she was hit with a gust of cold air, he must have turned on the air conditioner. She looked around, not having been in his room before she wasn't sure which bed was his, but this proved to be no hassle as she saw him laying down on one.

She walked quietly towards him She was more of a blunt person to be honest, "…Marth? Marth wake up." The second time she said his name she raised her voice just a bit and he stirred slowly. She could see him beginning to sit up with a grunt. His hair was a mess as it covered his face. He seemed to only have a pair of sweat pants on, leaving his chest visible.

"Look you really need to talk to the others they're rea-Oh shit, you're nose is bleeding again." Samus watched as he brushed his hair out the way then automatically put his hand to his nose, getting a bit of the blood on his finger tips.

"I just can't catch a break, can I?" He let out a heavy, short chuckle as he got up swiftly heading for the tissue box on the dresser. She figured he was cleaning the blood off of his nose seeing as it must have dripped while he was asleep.

"Fuck." It was more of an agitated murmur than a statement to which Samus raised a brow at. He walked back towards his bed and sat down.

"Is there something else to add to your day?" Samus watched as Marth rolled his cerulean eyes.

"I just have this like…really terrible pain in my chest." Marth breathed in deeply which seemed like more of an aggravated chore to him now.

"Mayeb we should go see Peach." Samus commented quietly and Marth nodded. He got up once more with a wince and grabbed his shirt, putting it on. They got through the doorway with Marth leading before they reached a complication. Marth gasped painfully as he slumped against the wall of the hallway they were in.

"Marth?!" Samus rushed forward to see what happened to him and saw his eyes were shut. He wasn't responding either, what had he passed out from? Were his pains that severe?

She placed a hand on his shoulder before calling his name again before cursing loudly. She would have to leave him to get help but their friends weren't that far. She dashed away—after making sure he wouldn't fall—towards that last spot she'd seen the other four. With her lucky today she saw two others walking in her direction and knew immediately who they were—Roy and Peach.

"Look Samus I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier." Samus nodded anxiously before speaking to them about what had just happened.

"I understand Roy but now is not the time. He passed out in the hall. He said his chest was hurting and I have no clue what is going on…" Samus spit her words out messily but she hoped they understood what she was saying. Her thoughts were extremely jumbled and this all was unorthodox for her.

"Who?! Marth?" Peach questioned worriedly as she process what the bounty hunter had told her and when Samus nodded she told her to lead the way. They made their way back to where Samus was at previously noticing Marth instantly.

Peach immediately went to check his pulse and found it to be slower than normal. This was going to be beyond her expertise which meant she'd have to call Dr. Mario and bring Marth to his workplace.

"Roy get Master Hand, tell him to stay in human form as well. Be quick!" She ushered him off as she pulled out her pinkified cell phone which left Samus to stand around like a sore thumb.

"Yeah, Dr. Mario? I need to bring one of the Smashers in. It'd be better explained when we teleported there. Alright, bye," She snapped the phone shut and picked it up. A few moments later of waiting Roy came back with Master Hand.

"What seems to be going on?" He stopped after eyeing Marth who was currently being propped up with the help of Samus and Roy, "Ah, you'll need a teleport I presume?"

"Yes please." Peach said glumly and took the mystical looking sphere that he handed her.

"Stay in touch. I don't want things getting misconstrued." He walked off directly after finishing his sentence. She knew he was in a furious mood now. Peach pressed a button on the black sphere and within moments the four materialized as if they were going in for a brawl instead of going to the hospital setting.

* * *

"Well I've checked him over and he's been stabilized but there's one stipulation. He's going to need…a liver transplant and our waiting list is quite long." Peach was slightly mortified at Dr. Mario's diagnosis as was Roy. Samus simply stared at the ground hard. How had the day that was filled with happiness between the six gone to something so sour and serious?

"Can't he live without it or something?" Samus said arguably even though she was not an expert in this profession but Dr. Mario shook his head with a frown.

"No, he needs his liver to function, though I can suggest another option," Samus's interest peaked at the last bit, "One of you could be a living donor for him, for instance we could transfer part of the liver to him. The liver has the ability to regenerate if placed in that situation such as that. The process has a slight risk of failure but in this situation I would recommend it." The level of terror in the room shrank but a wave of anxiousness washed over them. _Who would be the living donor?_

"I-I'll be the living donor." Samus had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had not felt in many years—fear. Whether it was for Marth's life or going into the surgery she just did not know but somewhere along the road of being this ruthless bounty hunter they called she had grown a soft spot that gave her friends.

"That is fantastic news to hear. We will perform the surgery shortly so if you could follow me we'll get you prepped right now, alright." She nodded slowly and as the doctor started to leave she was stopped by Peach.

"This is very brave of you Samus." Peach said with a soft smile but Samus simply followed the doctor without another word.

* * *

The surgery and transplant had gone extremely smoothly and both participants were in a private room for recovery which could take 2-6 weeks according to the doctor—of course they'd be able to stay at the Smash Mansion for the duration.

There was a little noise in the room at first but as Samus stirred from her sleep state and began to wake up they became a bit more anxious and nosier. First one eye popped open and then the second and she stayed frozen for a moment trying to recollect herself on why she was here and then it hit her. She scanned the room and when she looked to the left where the second bed was in use. It was crowded by their group of friends who were focused on the person in the bed, Marth.

"Why don't you guys go bug Samus? It seems she's woken up." As soon as Marth stopped speaking she was met with four pairs of eyes to which she rolled hers. There was a faint pang of pain in her side but she ignored it as she knew why.

"Are you feeling alright Samus?" Peach walked towards her with a gracious smile. That seemed to be all she did lately in matter of events—smile.

"I'm alright." Samus let out a gust of air she'd been holding in as she spoke. She noticed Link whispering to Zelda, Roy, and Ike and in return they nodded and began to leave.

"You coming Peach? We need to call Master Hand with an update." Zelda looked towards the blonde princess and exited the room once she saw Peach walking towards her. As soon as they had left and the door shut Link looked at Samus.

"I need to talk to you both." Link paused a moment as if he were contemplating something before speaking again, "The night of the first exhibition match Mario told me that there was another break in. They caught the culprit and kept them in a back room, that's why I didn't come to bed right away. When we went to interrogate we found out he was a…space pirate."

Link noticed Samus's expression had hardened the moment he said it, there was a deep tie between those creatures and her, "We tried to get information out of him but he used a self-destruct technique. Marth, everyone was suspicious of why this transplant had to take place. Dr. Mario said that he found a poison called Atophan in your system, that's why your liver failed on you. Someone sabotaged your medicine." Link sighed as he finished, so far this year at Smash nothing was going right. Samus was clenching the bed sheets over her silently.

"Link," The said person slowly looked at Samus with bare guilt, "Why didn't you tell me before! I could've something and then we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I'm sorry Samus, but we weren't allowed to tell anyone until now. Please don't be mad, even if you'd found out earlier that we had interrogated that space pirate that wouldn't have meant you'd known Marth was getting poisoned." Samus stared at him blankly.

"Yes it does. That's their signature technique Link! Every time they go on a job that's what they do, they poison someone!" Samus swallowed hard, "Can you…can you just leave for now. I'm not mad at you, I just need space."

Link nodded his head slowly and turned around leaving the room silently. Marth had not said a single word but he glanced at Samus, "Samus, you know this is not your fault."

"Yes it is! It always is, I should've seen the signs! Something like this always happens to me. I befriend someone; I let them in and then _bam!_ _They_ _die._ They came here because of me and they tried to kill you because of me._" _As Samus continued to speak the monitor that was connected to her beep a bit faster than before.

"Samus _stop._" Marth's tone was unusual and something she had not her from the prince, "You cannot help the decisions of your enemies, so don't start blaming yourself. When I resided in Altea I learned that one of our allies was ready to turn against us. They had even spread terrible lies about the kingdom and I; while some chose to believe them, I had many stick up for the kingdom I am prince of."

"It is _your friends_ that will stick beside you no matter what, even with these turns of events. I am grateful for what you have done for me and _I will stick beside you in this._" Samus had been staring at her hands but looked up to stare at him in the eyes. _Did he really care that much?_

"I…I…thank you Marth." Samus was rarely at a loss for words but at this point she most certainly was. She had never heard a person tell her this, it was a foreign statement to her. He did not respond with words, simply letting his comforting smile do its job.

* * *

The duo would be able to go home today after five days of bed rest—only to be sentenced to more while at the Smash Mansion! During that time Samus had apologized to Link for snapping at him, she'd seemed to be doing a lot of that lately much to her dismay. She and Marth had connected a great deal more during their stay as often they were the only company they had.

_It was the day after they had been out of surgery and everything was a bit hazy for them. The nurse that had been assigned to assist them had just left after giving them a type of pill that would help with their pain for the next twelve hours or so. This meant that once again they would have to fend for themselves with boredom._

"_Samus, I know that you consider the other four and I friends of yours but you've never given us a deeper look at your history." Marth turned in the bed slowly, letting his legs dangle off. Samus looked at him dividedly, she always was reluctant in this area._

"_You know why, you know I don't want to relive that in any way." Samus sent him a sour look to which he did not seem to be affected by._

"_I understand that feeling Samus but if you told me about what went on we could possibly find out more of what they might plan. You are the only person to know firsthand. You could be the key to solving this problem that's going on." Marth sighed as she shook her head, "Maybe if I told you of my past it would help you with yours."_

"_You already told us about it, didn't you?" Samus was a bit confused for a moment, did Marth leave out a few details or something?_

"_While Altea is now safe there was a time when it was not the same. About a hundred years ago there was a dragon, Medeus that was killed in my country but he was resurrected only a few years ago and planned to strike my home again. When he did I was forced into exile and my father was killed by an evil priest called Gharnef and my mother...she was murdered by Morzas who was a mage. Both were loyal towards Medeus and they eventually kidnapped my sister, Elice. I founded a group to help me rescue my sister and destroy the dragon that had taken everything from me." Samus didn't say anything once again but crossed her arms silently, it seemed Marth had much more on his mind than she'd ever thought._

"_There was a princess of a very prominent country, Archanea, who gave me her country's national treasure, the Fire Emblem. Eventually I reclaimed the Falchion from Gharnef and killed Medeus with the help of the Fire Emblem." He paused for a minute as if to let the information sink into Samus's mind._

"_Were you close to your mother?" Marth figured at this point that Samus was a woman of wisdom. Though he did not speak of this often, the first response anyone usually had was to comment about how 'Well at least it's over."_

"_Yes. My father was a severely stern man and she was the exact opposite, perhaps that's why they fell in love." He watched Samus bite her lip anxiously debating an unspoken question he already knew the answer to, "Yes, there is more to my story but I can stop if you like."_

"_No, I want to know more." Marth nodded and continued speaking the words of his past._

"_It was extremely peaceful after that. I was able to return to my kingdom and I had come across someone who had helped me in the past, Caeda. We connected again very well during that time but she was not quite right for me," Marth chuckled for a moment before continuing, "We overheard one day that a friend and former ally of ours, Hardin, began to conquer countries near Archanea. I left the country to investigate, leaving my sister in charge. At a certain point we found more of our other former allies but they had fled or been murdered by Hardin and his groups. We traveled to a place called Macedonia where a mage of Archanea revealed she had been hiding the Fire Emblem but there were gems that had to be found for it to regain its original power. In a short time I had found most but I received word that Hardin had conquered Altea right from under my feet."_

_Marth's story was interrupted by a yawn but he continued after like there was no break, "Immediately I hurried to get back to my kingdom but we passed through a different kingdom named Gra. It had suffered the same fate that Altea was happening to Altea. I was able to defeat Hardin and get the last gem which gave the Fire Emblem is power back. However, I soon learned that Hardin was not truly evil; he was being possessed by the evil priest, Gharnef, from before. I left to go defeat him. He had possessed a number of clerics that included my sister. Merric, a mage and friend of the royal family, helped to wake her from the control after I defeated Gharnef. Medeus had been reborn again but I was able to slay him again for the final time. This time Altea would return to normal for good."_

"_You didn't tell us the whole story then. I remember hearing you speak of being exiled from your country but nothing past that." Samus realized then that his past was just as troubling to bring up as was hers, "Are you still a Prince then?"_

"_I'm technically considered the Emperor now but I'm no longer in any sort of exile. Elice is simply ruling while I go away for different reasons such as Smash." Marth smiled as he heard Samus grumble about him being too damn complicated to follow, "Let's be serious now Samus. You pulled the same stunt as I, didn't you? You said you were a bounty hunter and you fought against the space pirates. There's more to the story than that; I know it may hurt to talk of it, so can you?"_

"_Great minds think alike, don't they? I think now that I can confess my past to you but I'm not into details. It'll be short and sour." Marth almost laughed at her supposed joke but did not, "I grew up on a colony called K-2L with my mother and father. I really don't remember too much considering I was quite young but I befriended a Chozo named Old Bird. Not long after, space pirates came to raid us and my mother died during this because of Ridley, a rather dragon-like space pirate. I ran off and my father sacrificed himself to destroy Ridley's ship. He eventually wiped out the entire colony leaving me the only one left alive. Old Bird rescued me and I was raised with the Chozo where they infused Chozo blood with mine. They built my power suit as well. When I turned fourteen I left for the Federation where I went on many missions over the years. Ridley and his group of space pirates eventually attack the Chozo, going after my second home and family. We did not defeat him then, in fact I actually had to be rescued after a few others and I escaped. I met someone named Adam who was probably the only person I've ever felt that understood me truly, he was like my father." Samus paused for a moment wondering if she could talk about this after all. If she could talk about the few people that were actually dear to her, that had left her._

"_I trusted him dearly but eventually I left the federation secretly and became a bounty hunter. I was inexperienced and I needed practice to be better. This was a few years later and the federation had summoned be once more. They told me to destroy all the Metroid organisms, which meant killing Ridley. When I was finally able to battle against him I came out victorious. I also managed to kill something called the Mother-brain, which caused a self-destruction sequence to start. I managed to make it to my ship before the explosion of the base caught me but was shot down by another group of space pirates. I lost my Power Suit in the process, retreated to be safe and wound up a spot I had been to when I was younger—a scared Ruins Test. After passing they granted me with another Power Suit that was by far more powerful."_

"_So you've had problems with dragons too?" Samus had stopped once more and Marth took the time to comment with light humor. Samus nodded with a bare smile back._

"_Sneaking onto the Pirate Mothership that had struck me down earlier, I escaped with one of their fighter ships after I set of yet another self-destruct. When I got back to the federation not long later they sent me out on another mission. I had investigated a Space Pirate Frigate that had been taken out by some sort of parasite. Sometime while I was infiltrating the ship one of those things caused a malfunction in the ship setting in off to explode. I hurried through the ventilation system but I was stopped by Meta-Ridley. He had turned into some sort of robotic creature. I chased him with my gunship but he was a bit faster. Eventually I found a jungle-like place and was confronted by something known as an Omega Pirate. Its death actually benefited me more than I ever would have thought as the radiation gave my suit bit of a tolerance against Phazon. Eventually Meta-Ridley sought me out and I was able to kill him then."_

"_It seems you have as complex a history as I do. I know you feel sorrowful Samus, but don't you feel lifted now?" It was true, Samus did feel a bit more free now from talking about her past. It was probably the first time she'd told anyone the entire story._

"_I suppose I do. Thanks Marth."_

"I hope you guys are ready to come back to Smash Mansion because it sure has been boring." Roy's sudden voice brought them out of their silence. When did he get there?

"Oh please, you haven't been bored one bit. You and Link with your pranks, I swear I'm going to kill you two one day…although that green hair dye in Peach's shampoo was a tad funny." Zelda reprimanded the red headed boy. He could be so stupid some times.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Zelda. All I'm saying is that Pikachu is going to kill one of us if Samus doesn't come back." Samus let out a loud laugh, which startled him. Normally when she found something funny the most she showed was a big smile or a small laugh.

"Oh really? That'd be pretty damn funny to see." Roy grumbled about how heartless Samus was being when she hadn't seen him in forever.

"Well they're sending you home now, so too bad, so sad." Roy said as if he were still a five year old child.

* * *

**Oh my. ;-; I hope I didn't bore you guys but I promise the next chapter will be better! Definitely more action, and there'll be a slight time-skip of a few months. So enjoy and review please! O:**


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